


You'll Always Be Pack

by OscarLeogere



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mind Control, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-06
Updated: 2013-10-06
Packaged: 2017-12-27 10:01:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/977446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OscarLeogere/pseuds/OscarLeogere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Derek narrowed his eyes, "If you ever need to talk. You'll always be pack to me"</i>
</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p>In the aftermath of Stiles discovering he has magic and a bunch of crazy witches deciding they think that he would make a great sacrifice to the gods our protagonists accidentally start an alpha male's mating ritual. The only problem for Derek is that means that he has to do anything that Stiles says...</p><p>Well, there's that and the fact that when an alpha males mating ritual begins. There's only two ways it can end, either they mate or Stiles has to leave the pack.</p><p>-</p><p>   <i>"You know how some people imagine how they're going to propose? I can honestly say I was not expecting it to be like this." Stiles took a heavy breath.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Difficult Choice

**Author's Note:**

> So where to begin. This story is pretty free of triggers and the mind control isn't used for teh sex (though when I had the idea I'm not going to lie that was where it was going but I just couldn't).
> 
> I killed off the Jeep pre-story. Which made me sad.  
> Stiles has magic. Which makes me happy.  
> Minor characters are pretty much non-existent, except for The Sheriff and one OC.
> 
> The only other thing I really want to say is that this is the first story I've written for this pairing, for this fandom and I'm afraid that's all I can really say without starting to go into the plot.
> 
> I loved writing it and hopefully you love reading it.

“Derek!” Stiles snapped and stood up. “You cannot be asking us to do this. It’s suicidal and _frankly_ there’s no threat any more. This whole ordeal is just for you to -”

Derek growled and moved towards Stiles. His eyes flashed red and narrowed slightly.

“ _No!_ You are not pulling this alpha shit on me” Stiles paused and stared into Derek’s eyes ignoring the snarl growing in volume. “You may be the best fighter but this is fucking stupid they said they were going to leave so let them fucking leave. Sure we can kill a few of them but do you really reckon we can take them all down? There are _twelve of them_ and they came knowing that there were werewolves. Give them a chance to get away, send them an ear in the mail or something if you want to send a message but no suicide.” Stiles narrowed his eyes. “Right?”

Stiles and Derek’s stare held for another ten or so seconds when Derek broke eye contact and Stiles’ smirked. “Fine,” Derek growled. “We’ll give them a day. No more.”

Stiles opened his mouth to protest but a giggle behind him. Derek grabbed his arm and dragged him outside. Stiles vaguely heard a voice saying, “Is it just me or was that hot?” but he couldn’t make out whose it was before he felt himself being pinned up against the wall. Derek’s arms pushed against his shoulders. He tilted his head a little.

“You are _not_ to confront me in front of the pack again.” Derek said, “We’re going to deal with this but don’t mistake me _I_ am the alpha and the pack answer to me.”

“Dude. You listened to me once I don’t think that merits -”

Derek growled. “ _Stop_ speaking.”

“Derek. Be nice, go inside and prepare a _good_ plan for if they don’t actually leave. Perhaps you should make it a plan which doesn’t rely on blind aggression.” Stiles’ smile waivered a little, “Also you… _uh_ can let me down now?”

Derek removed his hands from Stiles and he dropped straight to the ground. “I think you should go home.” Derek mumbled and quickly re-entered the house.

-

Stiles’ wasn’t _particularly_ pleased about the way this situation had come about. It was a pretty amusing story at first; a group of witches had arrived and suggested that he learns a little bit more about his magic skills. It had only taken them a few weeks to decide that they didn’t want him as their thirteenth member and he’d make a much better sacrifice to the gods. Apparently that would improve their magical skills.

The only problem they encountered wasn’t the kidnap but the fact they hadn’t actually asked him whether he was mated with Derek (he wasn't, but apparently for the sacrifice to work he had to be). The sacrifice was going so well too, they were chanting magical phrases, drawing sigils and throwing rose petals over him. Although that was a strangely romantic gesture for a sacrifice when the spell was finished there was an awkward realisation that maybe they should have asked for full disclosure of his sexual history before they put all the effort in.

Somehow deciding that it would be best to release him, Stiles warned them in no uncertain terms that if they didn’t leave they would be mauled to death by an angry pack. He decided to ignore the fact that they’d laughed manically as he walked off and instead focused on the fact that he’d vaguely heard the shout of “PACK THE SUITCASES” when he left.

When Stiles told his father about the kidnap he focussed less on the fact that the witches almost destroyed the Jeep (the chassis was technically fine, it was just down an engine and wheels) and instead decided to only pay attention to the fact that, “oh, you’re not sleeping with Derek?”. Unsurprisingly, Stiles was sufficiently embarrassed.

When he thought retelling the story to Derek would be easier he quickly found that it would be three times worse. As soon as he found out he’d called a pack meeting and demanded that they go and kill the witches right at that moment. Derek blamed himself for putting Stiles in danger and he wanted to send a clear message that his territory wasn’t tolerant of witches' invasions. Unfortunately the plan lacked a certain _pizazz_ which is fair enough as clawing people to death is rarely the height of class, but Stiles knew a bad plan when he heard one and this was the pinnacle.

The thing that really topped off the whole situation was how Derek had even _laughed_ when Stiles had told him the witches thought they were mated. Derek never laughed; he hadn’t even laughed at Stiles’ best jokes nor had he laughed when Scott walked straight into a door last week (it was hilarious, okay?). The only times that Stiles could even remember seeing Derek smile was when Derek had been dragged to explain the werewolf thing to his Dad and that was most definitely forced and hella' awkward. As much as Stiles tried not to take the fact that Derek found the idea of the two of them hilarious personally, the more he thought about it the more pissed off he was. Of course the laugh stopped when Stiles told him they tried to kill him, but it sort of stuck with him.

About three hours later it finally sunk in for Stiles about how he’d stood up to the alpha and _got away with it_. Derek had always warned people against it and had threatened to rip their throats out if they continued with their mutinous thoughts but he’d not only stood up to the alpha he’d got him to back down. I mean he’d probably been sent away to teach him a lesson. Derek wouldn’t want to appear weak and if Stiles had stayed there it would have certainly made a tense pack meeting.

When Stiles lay down in bed he quickly sent a text to Scott, “I can’t believe Derek kicked me out of the meeting.”

He whistled to himself for a moment before the response came through, “You’re not out of the woods yet, bro.”

Stiles responded with a single question mark and tried to ignore the fact that his question had been blatantly avoided. He guessed he’d see Scott tomorrow anyway. He didn’t fall to sleep quickly (he was too horny) and it took him three porn videos and a short erotic story to actually get himself to the point where he could finish up and finally get some bloody sleep.

-

Ignoring the fact that Stiles woke up three times in the night he actually had an alright night’s sleep and he didn’t feel that tired when dawn arrived and school was on the horizon. He glanced at his phone and saw a text from Derek. He didn’t respond immediately and he grabbed a quick shower. When he jumped out and returned to get dressed he threw his towel on the bed and _had a bloody heart attack_.

“DEREK!” Stiles turned around quickly. “You are not meant to be here.”

“I told you I was coming. I sent a text.”

“Close your eyes.” Stiles shouted. “Let me get dressed in peace.”

He looked over his shoulder and saw that Derek had actually listened to what he’d said. He felt a slight twinge of rejection; surely his ass would at least be good enough to merit a sneak peek or something? Stiles pulled on his underwear and top before he told Derek he could open his eyes again.

“I’ve seen you before.” Derek sighed. “The invisibility spell?”

Stiles grabbed his trousers and pulled them up and buttoned them up quickly.

“We agreed not to talk about it remember!” Stiles grumbled. “I could do it when I was with the witches. I was _trying_ to give you a presentation of my new spells.”

“Ah. I didn’t realise you were blaming me for your exhibitionism?”

“I was still _wearing_ clothes. They were just invisible.” Stiles scratched the back of his neck. “Uh. So about last night. Scott said I was in trouble.”

Derek gritted his teeth. “I told them not to.”

“So I am in trouble?” Stiles sat down on the end of the bed and glanced at his watch. “My Dad’s getting home in about five minutes and I’m leaving for school in thirty... So can we keep this quick? Last thing I want is to have to explain what you’re doing in my bedroom. It was awkward enough explaining to him that we weren’t having sex. I never want to have to do that again.”

Derek tilted his head, “You would rather tell him we were having sex?”

Stiles started blushing furiously and opened his mouth only a light stammer coming out. “I… You’re not even funny. If he comes in and starts asking questions you have to tell him we’re not having sex because I am never doing that again, he's like Mrs Bennett he's trying to marry me off or something. So why are you here? Did you come to tell me how naughty I’ve been, explain my punishment and tell me that Santa might only bring me coal this year?”

“No punishment… You shouldn’t have stood up to the alpha, but maybe you were right to. I came to tell you that the witches have left. Scott checked their house this morning.” Derek smiled a little but his face returned to a frown. “I probably won’t be around for a few weeks I’ve… Got alpha stuff. We won’t be able to talk much I’m afraid.”

Stiles heard a knock at his bedroom door, he didn’t realise that they’d missed the front door opening. He looked to Derek who nodded once and jumped off the bed and walked towards the window.

“Stiles?” The Sheriff shouted knocking again. “Are you up?” He opened the door and saw Derek half way out of the window. “What are you doing here?”

“Me and your son are not having sex, Sheriff.” Derek mumbled.

Stiles’ mouth fell open and he glared at Derek as he jumped down to the ground.

The Sheriff smirked, “You gonna’ come down for breakfast or am I going to have to put your jaw back in?” Stiles closed his mouth, “Great. I hope that now you see why I thought you two were at it? That guy has a strange sense of humour.”

“Tell me about it.” Stiles muttered

-

Derek ran back home and threw himself at his bed. He’d go for a run in a minute but first he’d have to track down those _fucking_ witches. They’d cast a spell on him or something. They were trying to get him to bond with Stiles and… He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. It was the only explanation. His wolf didn’t normally want to go against anything that Stiles said and apparently now was no different except unlike normal even when he didn’t want to fulfil the requests his wolf lurched into action.

He didn’t exactly know _when_ they’d cast this spell but he realised the moment Stiles had _told_ him not to go and kill every single one of those witches and put their heads on spikes. He’d agreed to Stiles’ plan despite the fact every bone in his body didn’t want to do it. He’d sent Allison (well, Scott sent Allison) to the witches to tell them that Stiles had told Derek to kill them all and that the pack were doing their best to keep them back. Suffice to say they’d all run off quick enough, the word of a hunter about werewolves were as sacred as gold and a word about an Alpha wanting to slaughter them got them speeding along.

Derek didn’t exactly know how this worked but there was no doubt after telling The Sheriff he wasn’t having sex with Stiles that... Well it hadn’t worn off. The pack had tried for an hour to recreate the situation but there was no way in hell that they could get Derek to do something he didn’t want to do. They tried a great number of different tests (they even called Deaton to see if having magical abilities would be enough to trigger the impulse to follow orders – though they didn’t explain the situation) but humans, werewolves and druids were all incapable of recreating the situation…

They were left with only a few options of how to understand that. The two leading theories were that either all witches could boss him around or only Stiles could. They considered that maybe Stiles had accidentally used his magic. They didn’t really have any answers. Scott had suggested that this makes Stiles’ Derek’s alpha but Derek wasn’t exactly pleased with the theory and Scott was soon forced to back down.

They had all suggested that it would wear off overnight but evidently… Derek had _tried_ to get a better look at Stiles’ undressing but he simply couldn’t. Derek would never pass up an opportunity to… test whether he could break one of Stiles’ orders. Derek nodded to himself gently at the thought accepting that maybe trying to look at Stiles’ ass wasn’t all creepy.

He thought back to one of his mother’s favourite sayings, “A wolf’s love will do anything for their mate.” He had a distinct feeling that this _wasn’t_ what she meant. His wolf wanted to be with Stiles more than anything and this spell wasn’t going to make that easy. Stiles could easily throw out a comment like “blow me” and well this whole thing could get way too interesting. He didn’t recall whether Stiles had ever said that but he knew that being careful was probably in order.

His phone vibrated, “Why _the fuck_ would you… My dad spent twenty minutes laughing at my face.”

He smirked to himself and decided that he’d have to respond to this text _after_ a run.

-

Two hours into school Stiles’ phone graced him with a text. “Your father asked a question. I thought that’s what you told me to do?”

Stiles looked up at the board and tried to subtly text underneath the table. “Ah, so you’re telling me that if I told you to do something you didn’t want to do you’d do it?”

His phone vibrated. “… Is this the stupid ‘would you jump off a cliff if I told you?’ test because that joke is overdone.”

Stiles raised his eyebrow. “No, no. I thought I’d tell you that you must do a backflip, a karate kick, learn the routine to Cha Cha Slide, have a wank, relax, eat some pizza, have a long bath, try and find a hobby, make a new friend... all things you seriously need to do anyway. Do you ever do anything fun? Jumping off cliffs is way down on the list ;). Oh and why is Scott acting weird?”

“I have fun.” Derek informed Stiles.

Stiles got slightly annoyed that he didn’t receive a response to his question but he didn’t exactly know what a busy day Derek all of a sudden had.

-

“So basically the reason is because Scott thinks you cast a spell on me to get me to not attack the witches.” Derek appeared by Stiles’ side as he walked home. The fact he’d been allowed to tell only a part truth was at least a good thing.

“Huh, why? Just because I told you not to risk your lives for revenge and you listened doesn’t mean I’ve enchanted you. Maybe it’s just because that’s the first time you’ve changed your mind…” Stiles quirked an eyebrow.

“Heh. Well better they think it’s a spell than try and test me themselves.”

“And you came to school to tell me this because?”

“If I don’t keep an eye on you what’s to stop another coven of witches from kidnapping you. You did admit to being a virgin right. Aren’t they the key to pretty much the key to every spell?”

“Oh great. So I’m the target of witches if I don’t sleep with you and I’m a target of witches if I do?”

Derek’s eyes narrowed. “You could sleep with other people? I thought you had a crush on Lydia?”

“Well _had_ is kinda’ a key word.” Stiles muttered. “I don’t think girls are really for me. I mean, maybe a little but… I can’t imagine being with a woman. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a vagina and I do have a penis but…” Stiles looked at Derek. “Scott freaked out by this point and started talking about how he still likes boobs and he ‘doesn’t have them’ but boobs are different. They look squishy and comfortable, you get me?”

Derek’s eyes met Stiles’ and he quickly looked away.

“I don’t think me and Scott… I don’t know recently.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s the whole magic thing too… Have you ever had friends that have drifted away from you because even though you’ve been friends for a long time you don’t have enough in common?” Stiles looked at Derek acutely. “I sometimes wonder if it’s just through habit that I consider him my best friend because I don’t think he cares anymore.”

Derek scowled for a moment, “My best friend after the fire for a few years was sort of like that. He kept me safe for a few months and we stayed friends for years longer than we should have done. It’s not the same though. He wanted me to turn him when he found out. An alpha killed him and when he was dead a few months later I realised I was only friends with him through an obligation, to repay the debt of him helping me out. Maybe that’s different.”

“Life is complicated.” Stiles lifted his arm and gave Derek a squeeze on his shoulder. “The world of an alpha is different from the world of a human yet we get along perfectly well.”

“Scott just needs to get used to the idea.” They arrived at Stiles’ door a few moments later and Derek said a quick goodbye to Stiles. Before the door slammed shut on his face he stuck his foot in the door (which hurts way more than the movies imply).

“Stiles, for what it’s worth and I know it doesn’t help at the time. You’ll find people who are like you. Plenty of people who are straight at your age haven’t fully figured out what they want and that may make you feel outcast but it doesn’t last forever.” Derek narrowed his eyes at Stiles, “If you ever need to talk… you will _always_ be pack to me.”

Stiles nodded once, a goofy grin appearing on his face. He moved to close the door but hesitated, “Hey. You will stay safe won’t you?” Stiles swallowed heavily. “What do I do if the witches come back?”

Derek’s eyes glaze over slightly before the penny dropped about the expedition. “I’ll be back in a week or two. Call me if you need me.”

-

Derek left the house as quickly as he could. He had a lot of things to do, at least he felt like he did. He wasn’t able to get out of that bath for a whole bloody hour. Derek couldn’t remember the last time he had a bath and he didn’t want to have to learn any other dance routines. He’s glad he wasn’t given a time limit, but even so it seemed like his body wanted to fulfil tasks as quickly as possible but his wolf was more than happy to stay with Stiles instead of rushing home to ‘get funky’.

However his happiness that his wolf still had some sense of decorum went out of the window when about five minutes after he got home he found himself calling Erica to help him learn the cha-cha slide. Erica laughed for about three minutes before agreeing.

“What else has he made you do?”

“Cartwheels… _by text_. And he made me make friends with some old woman in town…” Derek scowled. “I told Scott to tell him to test an order on me by texting from Stiles’ phone. I wanted to see whether a fake Stiles is a danger.”

Erica’s smile changed shape a little. “If he is then I imagine Stiles’ phone will be in high demand. I might try and get it myself.”

Derek’s mouth opened to scowl but the only thing that came out was “I need to learn the cha-cha slide now.” And as he moved into position he made sure to add, “It didn’t work when it was Scott texting me. Something triggers when Stiles is doing it, it's not the belief it's Stiles.”

A little bit later and Derek was only marginally frustrated by the fact that his wolf wouldn’t accept _listening to the fucking song_ as learning the routine. He didn’t actually know that his wolf could be such a pedantic arsehole (especially when the lyrics and the routine were one and the same) but apparently it could be and it was only placated when he could perform the routine to absolute perfection without the music. Erica had spent most of the time correcting him when he missed one jump of a “Charlie Brown” or when he hopped one time too many but he wasn’t sure why his wolf made her watch his frankly embarrassing decay into madness. Or maybe his wolf knew that if he didn’t have Erica there he wouldn’t have noticed all of the mistakes.

-

A week later and somehow the whole pack had only teased him a handful of times about the cha-cha slide incident. Scott had talked Stiles into sending Derek some vague orders every morning for his alpha trip and Derek would test and see if the orders were breakable. This had led to some pretty strange days. He was _not_ amused by the ‘Don’t hurry home – we’re all partying every night’ because apparently not hurrying home was demonstrated by being able to go on a run for an hour away from the house but being condemned to _walk_ back home.

However with the spell so far having lasted over a week there was no choice in Derek’s mind that he would have to speak to someone about it. Spells were normally over by now _especially_ ones cast by ill trained teenage boys by accident, but his wolf was getting harder to control and had more desire to spend time with Stiles. If the spell was getting _stronger_ then the witches would have to be nearby. His only hope was that Deaton would be able to help.

Derek waited until the last patient had left (it was a dog with nothing more than a bad limp) before entering.

“Deaton. We need to talk.”

“Oh we do?” Deaton looked up at Derek before putting his coat on, “I was just shutting up. If this is about the witches then Scott has already filled me in. They are not all evil. I’m sure another coven will be able to teach Stiles and won’t try to sacrifice him.”

“I think they’re still here. I think they’ve got me under a spell. It’s getting stronger.” Derek snarled. “They wanted Stiles as an alpha-mate sacrifice. I think they are trying to force us together. My wolf is trying to get close to him and is compelling me to obey anything he says.”

Deaton’s eyes widened. “I did wonder whether this might finally get you two to come to your senses and mate.” Deaton walked towards the door.

Derek growled. “I did not try to mate with Stiles.”

Deaton sighed, ran to his office to grab a book before running back and handing it to Derek. “I am not versed in werewolf mating, technically I am not meant to know _anything_ but what I do know is from this book. The rituals and starting of mating procedures is a complex issue and it’s meant to be your parents who guide you through what is a confusing time and at least explain the whole thing to you. I can ask another pack if they wish to offer you their knowledge.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Derek took the book and left abruptly.

-

**_“Chapter Eight – Male Alphas”_ **

Derek sighed as he read the chapter title. He’d just read seven chapters of different cases to discover that the _eighth_ chapter was the one that would be most relevant to him. This wasn’t to say that reading about the mating rituals of omega wolves wasn’t uninteresting. It’s just that it wasn’t particularly helpful to the situation.

_“As noted in previous chapters wolves are matriarchal creatures. This of course means that the main exception to previous examples is that the mate of a male alpha will be of higher rank than all other members of the pack, including the alpha. Due to this there are a few minor differences between the mating of a female alpha and the mating of a male alpha._

_“Instead of the one sided pack display required for a female mating the ritual requires a mutual initiation of the mating_ , _the pack display is therefore usually a choreographed display that the male is subservient to his mate. Although this is usually done with a physical play fight any display of subservience in front of the whole pack will begin the mating period.”_

Derek grumbled to himself for nearly three quarters of an hour about how he didn’t realise that agreeing with Stiles was a bad idea but by the end he recalled the fact that Stiles had stared him down. Derek knew that Stiles would probably find it funny that the staring contest would have such a grand effect but his mind returned back to the book before long.

The next three and a half pages went on to discuss in great detail how this event was a rite of passage for all alpha males and that most beta males who expect to take the title of alpha do not complete their mating as betas preferring to do so when they become an alpha.

_“The mating period lasts until the same point of the lunar cycle and is comparable to the human courting period. During this period the alpha is responsible for proving his worth to his mate. This is represented by the wolf’s compulsive desire to fulfil any order made of him by his betrothed mate. As the alpha will be responsible for the protection of the betrothed the wolf may forgo spending time fulfilling orders in order to keep the potential mate safe and may fail to complete an order if it goes against self preservation or the other laws set down by the Werewolf Alliance of North America at that time._

_“The conclusion of the mating period is again performed in front of the whole pack exactly 27 days after the initial pack display. If the alpha accepts his betrothed then he will make another display of subservience and the two will be considered mated for life. If the alpha refuses his betrothed then the dismissal ritual is performed (as discussed in_ Traditional Pack Punishments – An Alpha’s Guide) _and the alpha is free to pursue the prospect of other mates._

_“As the wolf feels a compulsion to complete requests made by the betrothed a similar compulsion occurs to ensure the conclusion of the mating period in both of the wolves. If the mating period is not concluded due to death or incapacitation the wolf’s desire to mate will dissipate. If the mate is non-werewolf they will feel no compulsion to complete the mating.”_

Derek was only slightly relieved to read that the compulsion subsides in life or death situations and that he cannot be ordered to kill against his will.

-

Stiles’ phone went off in his pocket. He fished it out rapidly and answered the phone as fast as he possibly could when he read the name. “Derek! Yo! It’s been weird without you. Are you coming back yet?”

“I got back today.” Derek said.

“Scott said you wouldn’t be back for another week or maybe even more. Anything funny happen?” Stiles’ mouth twitched wanting to launch into one of several million stories he had been waiting to share.

“I think we initiated a mating ritual.” Derek paused and just heard a heavy breath on the other side of the phone. “The day the witches tried to kill you. Basically the argument we had made it start. I had no idea this would happen apparently it’s a rite of passage that nobody ever thought to inform me of.”

After a few moments of breathing he just heard a long _“Uhhhhh_ ” from the other side of the phone.

“So basically there are two choices. We can either complete the bond and we become mated or you leave the pack. I’m not going to make you choose today but…” Derek paused realising the silence was going on for too long. He could hear heavy and irregular breathing on the other side of the phone. The breathing wasn’t normal it was laboured and- “Stiles. Are you okay?”

Derek started running. “Remember your breathing exercises okay? Breathe _in_. Hold. Breathe out.”

Derek wasn’t exactly sure how many times he repeated the breathing rhythm but it took him all the way to Stiles’ door and up the stairs. “Hey.” He walked into the room, hung up the phone and sat next to stiles on the bed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m…” Stiles paused and took another breath. “No.”

“Hey, I shouldn’t have told you over the phone. I… it was stupid of me.” Derek paused and placed his hand on Stiles’ shoulder.

“So we have to have sex or… I have to leave the pack.”

Derek shook his head. “It’s more like a marriage. We wouldn’t have to have sex if you didn’t want. We could just have some sexless thing.”

“You know how people imagine how they’re going to propose? I can _honestly_ say that I was not expecting it to be like this.” Stiles took a heavy breath. “We don’t have to have sex. Wow, romantic.”

Stiles’ breathing didn’t return to normal for several minutes. Derek’s hand lay on his shoulder the whole time. Stiles only became aware of the hand when he turned to make eye contact. All of a sudden Stiles was _fully_ aware of the hand. In fact, his mind struggled to move away from the grip on his shoulder and in an attempt to think of anything but the hand it became a fixation.

Derek took his hand off Stiles’ shoulder. He swallowed and looked down at the ground. “You have a few weeks to decide what you want to do. I felt that you should make the decision.”

“It’s kinda’ funny.” Stiles said causing Derek to quirk an eyebrow at Stiles. “Not _haha_ funny. I mean everyone thought we were together when we’re not and then this happens.” There was a long silence and his leg jittered a little. “When did you find out?”

“Today.”

“Oh… Wow you’re not freaking out about this whole thing?”

Stiles’ eyes met Derek’s and they waivered. Derek wasn’t exactly closer than he normally was but all of a sudden he _felt_ closer. Stiles’ mind repeated the thought, ‘ _Derek isn’t freaking out._ ’ Stiles watched as Derek blinked and then glanced at Derek’s nose; he leant forward a bit and pushed his lips against Derek’s. He took a moment to realise that he wasn’t being kissed back.

Stiles jolted back to sitting with a comfortable distance between the two of them.

“I didn’t think. I thought that you were -” Stiles fell silent and looked down to his hands. “You should probably leave.”

Derek stayed still and reached across to place his hand on Stiles’. “I want to stay.”

“Let yourself out.” Stiles mumbled and Derek bolted out of the door.

-

Before Derek knew it he was home. He kicked himself when he was back at the house. It had been fucking stupid. He’d been waiting for the moment to take action and his body just shut down on him and the worst thing about it was that he didn’t even know why. He’d blown it completely. The fact was that he’d convinced himself that Stiles would have taken the decision in seconds. He’d have told him that he’ll leave the pack and…

Well, it wasn’t exactly going to be easy for Derek but the decision would have been made, Stiles would have left and they would each ‘pursue other mates’, Stiles would move away and everything would be completely sound. In Derek’s ‘best case scenarios’… well to be honest he didn’t imagine anything in those beyond possible awkward sex, which either says more about Derek’s sexual fantasies or his levels of optimism. It didn’t matter though.

Derek hadn’t actually kissed anyone in _way_ too long.

“Look. Stiles, I don’t want you to feel pressured into trying to make anything happen with me. I can’t take advantage of you.” His fingers tapped relatively slowly against the keys. It was times like this he wished he’d learned to text faster.

He considered for a moment how Stiles was the one who could take advantage of him. How he wasn’t the one in control at all. He imagined Stiles ordering him to his knees, or ordering him to stand against the wall. He imagined Stiles whispering in his ears telling him to scream for him as he ploughed into him. He closed his eyes, imagining Stiles fucking him as hard as possible for as long as possible. In Derek’s mind the details were a little hazy but sexual fantasies are rarely the height of precision.

“I kissed you. I wanted to… It doesn’t matter anyway. Tell me what you want me to do and then this whole situation is easier.”

Derek looked at the text for a moment and started typing out his response. “I want you to come round and fuck me into a wall.” He’d hit send before the words he’d typed had actually ran through his brain and he’d realised what he’d just said. It wasn’t for another fifteen minutes that he received the response. It was only a single word and it may have explained the whole situation a little easier that Derek had expected.

“Wow.”

Derek put his phone down and decided it would be for the best if he didn’t check his phone that evening.


	2. Chapter 2

“Derek said _what_?” Scott leant back into his chair and grimaced. “Why the hell would he say that?”

“I’d only asked him to tell me what he wanted.” Stiles ignored Scott’s wink. “ _NOT_ like that. Has he spoken to you guys about the whole mating issue?”

Scott shrugged, “He mentioned it vaguely. But he didn’t give us any details.”

“Apparently we either have to marry or I have to leave the pack. I’m not sure how I even initiated this mating thing.”

“It might be that whole standoff about Derek wanting to kill the witches?”

“Why do you think that’s when it started?” Stiles’ voice wasn’t exactly as hushed as it had been.

Harris turned around from the board. “Stiles, I’m sure the class is all equally interested by what you have to say. Would you like to tell us all what it was?”

“No, sir.” Stiles blushed and looked down.

“No, no, I insist. Or would Scott like to fill us in on all of the latest news. You two haven’t stopped talking all lesson and frankly it’s left me wondering.” Harris looked expectantly between the two of them but after the deafening silence was clearly struggling to end he shrugged, “Very well, you can write an essay discussing the topic after school tonight. Anyway class, as I was saying the experiment that you need to design…”

Stiles somehow managed to last the remainder of the class without getting in trouble and when they were back out of Chemistry he restarted the conversation immediately.

“I’m just. I used to really dislike Derek and he has just been weird recently. Like did I tell you about when my dad came home?”

“Only like a hundred times.” Scott rolled his eyes. “Maybe when you start the mating ritual his brain turns to mush. You did say he didn’t even kiss you back and left straight after, maybe Derek isn’t into kissing.”

“I just wish that he’d stop with the whole mixed messages.” Stiles’ shrugged. “If I knew whether he wanted me to leave the pack or not this would make the whole thing easier.”

Scott shrugged. “Derek can’t say no to you. If it was anyone else Derek would have just told them to get out of the pack and the whole thing would be over before it started, right?” Stiles nodded. “He’s also majorly bad with emotions. What if he doesn’t know how to say what he wants? It sucks about detention though. I was meant to be meeting up with Isaac after school.”

“Wait? I thought I was going to yours tonight?”

“Yeah, but I figured that I was already going to be staying at yours on Saturday so…”

“It’s the full moonSaturday. You were meant to be coming over last Saturday, you just didn’t show… Which I’m pretty sure we’ve already talked about and had this exact conversation over.”

Scott opened his mouth to protest but Stiles spoke again before he had a chance.

“Y’know what it doesn’t matter.”

Stiles pulled out his phone when he sat down in class. He was good enough at this maths not to really pay that much attention it was calculus and well they’d already gone over this before. He was pretty sure that this was just a refresher because of the guy who’d been off for five weeks because he’d had an exotic virus.

He sent a quick text to Derek. “Save me from my detention after school?”

“You can’t do anything for yourself can you?”

“Yet you can’t google as well as I can?”

“See you after school.”

Stiles wasn’t exactly thrilled by the abrupt conclusion to the conversation. Derek didn’t even bother asking _why_ he was in detention. He’d go round to Derek’s after school. They probably needed to talk. It wasn’t as if they’d had a long and fruitful friendship. To be honest he pretty much spent most of his time that he’s known Derek frustrated with him. _Yes_ he also wanted to fuck him against the wall but... there’s more to a relationship and a wolfie marriage and wall sex.

Stiles tried not to think about the wall sex, then it consumed his thoughts. Every so often his mind would drag itself back to the calculus before he’d remember that he’d forgotten about the wall sex.

By the end of the lesson he walked back to the Chemistry classroom to see Derek talking with Harris. _No_ , Derek was making a joke with Harris.

“And then I said, ‘the baby or you?’ She was not impressed.”

“Stiles!” Harris smiled at him. “Officer Hale is insistent that you go with him. If you try and use your father to get out of detention again I’ll be having words with the principal. As it is today, I don’t want Derek here to get into any trouble.”

Stiles looked to Derek who nodded, “Uh. I’m sorry.”

Harris narrowed his eyes as Derek walked towards the exit. “Nice meeting you in your new capacity, Officer Hale.”

When Stiles left the room he just looked to Derek. They started walking down the corridor. “Officer Hale, huh?”

“I apparently got the job by accident when I stopped someone shoplifting. I’m surprised he was so easy to convince.” Derek’s nostrils filled up a little. “You smell funny.”

“What do I smell of?”

“I think you smell tired,” Derek paused and sniffed again, “and nervous and… distracted.”

“ _Come on_. This isn’t even fair. Now I feel even worse.”

Derek shrugged, “There’s no need to be nervous.”

Stiles opened the door to leave the school and somehow it was already practically deserted. “I’m not good at serious conversations. I can talk about foreskin for hours or talk about how porn is good for you or how the word boob is the best but serious stuff it’s no good.”

Derek smirked.

“After last night’s conversation I don’t think imagining you naked would help.” Stiles squeezed his hand into a fist. “Look, there was only one solution I came up with to our issue that allows us to...” He shook his hands a little. “We could just date like normal people. I mean just because we’re married by wolf standards doesn’t mean the state of California will be rushing to recognise it… If it doesn’t work out in a few weeks, months or years then we can go our separate ways. I have college soon so we can just figure out what we want by then -”

“Werewolves mate for life. If it doesn’t work you can move on but I wouldn’t be able to.” Derek paused. “I’m assuming that technically I could sleep with other people and date other people but I’d never be able to take another mate that the pack would recognise as their matriarch.”

“I can’t be a matriarch. I’m a _man_.” Stiles shook his head.

“You’d be an alpha-males mate. That’s pretty much the same thing.” Derek shrugged.

“I’d be Sourwolf’s boss?”

Derek glared at him and his eyes flashed red at him.

“If you were my bitch… you would totally not be leaving the bedroom. We could have all the wall sex and my god our sex life would be good.”

Stiles’ eyes locked with Derek’s and Derek grumbled a little.

“Don’t look at me like you don’t know how high my sex drive is. Everyone in the pack knows, it’s the elephant in every room of every house I’ve been in once.” Stiles glanced to his side to see Derek still grumbling, “We’d do romantic stuff too? Would be majorly cool though, a witch with my own werewolf pack.”

“You get _my_ pack.” Derek shrugged.

“We can work on the vocab of it all later.” Stiles chortled to himself. “Wolves will worship me.”

Derek growled at him as they arrived back at Stiles’ house.

“Do you think that this will all work out in the end?” Stiles rubbed the palms of his hands. “This whole situation is kinda’ ridiculous.”

“I never wanted this to happen. You’re too young to make this sort of decision.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.” Stiles closed his eyes and turned his body to stand in front of Derek at the door. “I just-“

“You smell aroused.”

“I _always_ smell aroused. We just talked about this.” Stiles opened his eyes a little and saw Derek’s face just a little bit away from his. He heard Derek take a deep sniff. “ _Oh my god_. You did not just sniff at my arousal.” It was moments like this that Stiles regretted wearing jeans, definitely not a fabric for... Derek sniffed heavily at his neck again. “Dude, I’m not some kind of free dog porn.”

Derek narrowed his eyes as his nose retreated back a small amount.

“I just… I dunno’. If I leave the pack what happens?”

“Not much. I can’t protect you from psycho witches. If you come back onto Hale lands as a werewolf then I have the right to punish you but as you’re human the hunters would mean that I wouldn’t be able to do that. I mean I wouldn’t want to kill you anyway, nor would my wolf. But he’d get jealous.”

“Can I be frank with you?”

“I’d rather you were Stiles”

Stiles pouted a little. “Derek, stop with the jokes. They don’t suit you.” He waited until Derek’s eyes softened. “I like you Derek. I mean, I obviously _want_ you. You can smell that… I mean you definitely got a good whiff of it then but my choice isn’t whether I want you or not, my choice is a lifetime _with_ you or a lifetime _without_ you and… Fuck”

Stiles hesitated a moment. “We probably shouldn’t do this outside.”

Derek nodded and followed Stiles into the house which he unlocked in lightning speed. He sat down on the couch and Stiles sat on the other side.

“I just wanted to tell you that I’m frustrated by this. We have been dancing around each other for months and I just wish…” Stiles tapped his leg a few times. “I want you to know that I really, _really_ like you and maybe we could love each other one day. But that isn’t enough is it? You’ve not known me long enough to want to spend your life with me and I haven’t known you long enough to commit to the grumpy wolf that is you. That’s all I wanted to say and I just wanted you to know that it’s not because you are… you. It’s because a month is never going to be long enough to know about a lifetime.”

“I’m not grumpy.” Derek mumbled.

“Of course not, Sourwolf.” Stiles smiled. “How long do we have before I leave the pack? We can try and plan the ways to make sure everyone’s okay.”

“Until the same point in relation to the lunar cycle which means about… two and a half weeks? Maybe you’ll have your Jeep again by then.”

“I hope so. My life is weird without it. Will I be able to see you in the future? Like when… we’re old and boring and have jobs and families.”

“I don’t know.” Derek stood up. “I’m going to go and find out if Deaton can find you any teaching.”

“Derek. My dad isn’t working a late shift tonight so can you just stay for a bit? I’d appreciate company.”

Derek’s insides coiled. There wasn’t the scent of arousal anymore. The scent was as unarousing as possible. It was the smell of regret. He was about to open the door when he decided that while Stiles was pack he still had to treat him like pack. Instead of sitting back where he was he sat a close as possible to Stiles, their legs and arms touching completely. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable but eventually Stiles tired of it and turned on the television.

Derek isn’t exactly sure what the two of them watched, it was a bad murder mystery story (where the big plot twist was the fact that it wasn’t a double murder but a murder-suicide and the body was tampered with after the suicide) to be honest most of the characters were guilty of minor crimes (that they were for some reason not arrested for) and it didn’t seem to entirely make sense why the other characters were all so hostile to the whole investigation for no good reason. Derek didn’t bother complaining about the programme though as Stiles hadn’t really been paying too much attention.

Stiles had naturally been fidgeting since he’d sat down. He was glad that Derek had stayed. They hadn’t spoken another word since Stiles had made his decision but he figured that it was for the best. In hindsight Stiles realised he probably should have just tried to act normal until the end of the period. There would be any of this awkwardness.

It reminded him of that “way too clingy couple” a few years above him at school who split up because they were going to different colleges and they decided that the appropriate time for this was the middle of May. Stiles was not an absolute expert but even he knew they could have waited a little bit longer. Instead of the summer of sex and probably good memories they could have had they instead chose to spend it pining over a person that they were probably not going to see much of ever again.

Of course, making that mistake himself wasn’t exactly as drastic. It would only save two weeks where they both knew the inevitable end result. He couldn’t marry Derek and he was still a blushing virgin maiden. He just hoped to god that unicorns were real otherwise it would be a total waste of his time.

“Yo, Derek. Are unicorns real?” Stiles shocked himself that he’d actually opened his mouth.

“Probably not, but maybe.” Derek’s stomach grumbled.

“You’d tell me if you saw one?”

“It depends if I ate it or not.” Derek’s stomach grumbled again more loudly.

“Wow. You have read Harry Potter right? That’s what Voldemort did and dude that shit is not cool.”

Derek glared at him and his stomach grumbled for a third time.

“Yo, Derek’s stomach, do you know if unicorns are real? I think it wants you to find him one.”

“I think it will settle for anything to be honest.” Derek stood up.

“I can’t be bothered making any proper food. Cheese on toast?”

Derek gave an abrupt nod and grabbed Stiles’ hand and dragged him to be standing up. “You need to take your pills.”

The two had dinner as they quietly continued to watch disturbingly poor television. If you’ve never watched TV then let me tell you that you’re not missing much, the slash fiction is usually better and the adverts are usually confusing. Derek and Stiles even saw one that was for butter and the plotline was basically that two children walk in on their parents having sex and somehow that means that the butter is worth buying (maybe it’s not for virgins).

The strange thing was that sharing each other’s company was both awkward to a level that is beyond belief, yet it was comfortable. The fact that Stiles’ mind had wandered away and their bodies had naturally moved to a close hug with Derek’s arm around Stiles wasn’t taken much consideration of. Stiles appreciated the contact, Derek appreciated it more and it didn’t take long before Stiles fell asleep on Derek’s shoulder just as the sun set and bad murder mystery number four came on.

It wasn’t until around ten at night that the Sheriff came home.When he did he came through to the living room and sat on the chair. The sheriff looked between Derek and Stiles then gave a light smile. “Have you two eaten?”

“Yeah.” Derek mumbled, “He’s been asleep for ages. He said you wouldn’t be home late.”

“I wasn’t meant to be.” Sheriff grumbled. He launched into a vague complaint about how nobody does their job properly and his deputy had managed to accidentally shoot his gun when he was cleaning it and completely ruined the car. He then mentioned that just before he was off-duty a call came in about a minor disturbance a few blocks away and he’d foolishly agreed to do it not realising in would turn into a several hour resolution of a dispute.

“Not the best end to a day then?” Derek grumbled.

The Sheriff nodded a little. “So, Derek. If you’re in charge of these kids maybe you’ll tell me why Scott is never here anymore?”

Derek shook his head. “Scott isn’t the same as he was when I met him. I think he thinks that as long as he feels like Stiles is his best friend that Stiles will be, but I think that they don’t realise that’s not enough. They’ll get back to their old ways.”

“You were away last week? I don’t need to prepare myself for a missing person do I?”

“I don’t think you’ll be seeing much of me around here after the next few weeks. But there’s nobody dead.” Derek swallowed, “It’s for the best. I’m sure Stiles will explain at some point, when he’s ready.”

“If this is about those witches then I want you to know I don’t blame you, he’d get himself in trouble with or without your help.” The Sheriff stood up. “You’re probably the best thing that’s happened to Stiles since his mother died, just look at him, how the hell did you do that to him? I don’t think I’ve seen him sleeping so… peacefully in years. He’s wouldn’t be that still in a coma.”

“He’s breathing.” Derek looked vaguely around the room, “He prepared cheese on toast for you but he said that he’d put tomatoes on it when you got home apparently if he’d put it on earlier it would have ‘ruined the toast experience’. So either put the tomato on or -”

“Oh _I_ know what he’s like. I’ll be force fed tomatoes for a month.”

“Don’t forget that, he’d tell you that you’re struggling to reach even one of your five a day.”

“Then he’ll make a lasagne big enough for five thousand with every vegetable known to man.”

“ _Then_ he’ll complain you don’t eat the side salad.”

The Sheriff smiled a little, mumbled something about going to the kitchen and then disappeared. Derek turned his head and looked at him sleeping peacefully against his shoulder. The first thought that appeared in Derek’s mind was that Stiles looked handsome like that. The other half of his brain was torn. Peaceful Stiles wasn’t the same as the Stiles that he normally spent time with. He glanced down at Stiles crotch and looked back up to his eyes.

Derek’s thoughts weren’t exactly PG at that moment. He considered what it would be like with his head between Stiles’ legs. He considered what it could be like to wake Stiles up with a hand around his cock. It’s what Stiles _smelt_ like every morning anyway. Derek knew that Stiles had no self-control, he woke up half an hour before he left for school but even then Derek could always smell that he’d found time to do more than just throw his clothes on.

He wondered if Stiles even knew what if would be like to go slow for once. He wondered if Stiles would understand that it didn’t always have to be fast and that sometimes it could be a long and loving process. Derek’s head snapped away from staring at Stiles’ mouth and nose and back to the room when he heard the footsteps to his side. The Sheriff was sat back on the chair and looking at him.

“So where are you going? Will Stiles be in any danger with the alpha gone?” The Sheriff took a bite of his tomato-topped cheese on toast.

“I’ll still be in Beacon Hills. Stiles will be safe. You have my word.” Derek pushed Stiles off his shoulder before standing up, Stiles still sound asleep, he glanced to the Sheriff and walked towards the door. “I’ve got to go.”

“I’ll see you around then Derek.”

Derek reached the door and his hand hovered over the handle before he turned and looked at the Sheriff. “I have a question. Why doesn’t Stiles know about his mother being a witch? I didn’t let Deaton or the coven tell him about the whole magic being hereditary.”

“She said she wanted him to have a normal life.” Stiles shuffled around on the sofa. “That turned out well.”

“Do you know whether her coven is still around? Stiles needs training by a new one after what happened to the last lot.”

“Uh. I only met one of the witches, Patricia. I think she runs a Bridge event every week at her house on Sunday mornings nowadays.”

Derek started blushing heavily. “I know Patricia… I’ve got to go now Mr Stilinski, I’ll talk to you again soon.”

-

Derek wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not at the fact that the ‘ _New Friend’_ he’d been ordered to find was a witch. It really suggested that he really was incapable of finding humans to befriend but on the other it was at the very least convenient. He was glad that his body accepted that _finding_ a hobby had been enough but he had a feeling that after he had promised to go and play with her and her friends last time that he’d not be able to get away with not showing up this time.

It was Saturday tomorrow so after he grabbed some sleep he would have to prepare for the full moon. His wolf felt stronger than normal ready to prove his alpha-male credentials to any potential adversaries. His wolf was already pining to return back to Stiles’ side. He knew it was going to be a tough day for keeping control.

-

Derek didn’t tell the pack that Stiles had initiated a mating ritual. He decided it wasn’t in their best interests. He also didn’t tell the pack that Stiles would soon be leaving him, though that was mostly because he was hoping that he would change his mind. In fact the only thing that Derek did tell the pack was that his wolf was feeling pretty strong and aggressive at the time and that they better avoid challenging him if they wanted to survive the night.

Except he may not have said that in that many words, he may have just growled at them all as they all talked amongst themselves. They all understood. There were two things that were strange about that night.

One was the fact that he woke up the next morning in Stiles’ bed and the other was the fact that he couldn’t remember a thing.

Derek nudged Stiles aggressively. “Stiles. What time is it?” Derek moved his hand from being curled around Stiles.

“Uh. It’s seven. Go back to sleep Derek.” Stiles pulled Derek’s arm back over him and pushed his body back against his.

Derek didn’t react initially. He just sniffed for a few minutes. Stiles in his pyjamas in front of him and damn he smelt good. He nuzzled his nose into the back of Stiles’ neck. His arm pulled back on Stiles’ body and brought their bodies into a tight fit. “Why am I here?”

“You were a wolf. I didn’t even realise that you could shift like that.” Stiles muttered. “You could have told me about that.”

“What do you mean? I don’t remember last night.”

“You weren’t a werewolf. I knew it was you though we don’t know any wolves anyway and you pawed at our front door to be let in, I let you in, you sniffed at my crotch a bit too much and my father laughed at me, then you sat on my lap and watched tv. _Then_ you followed me to bed and then you decided to wake me up at _seven in the morning_.”

“Can I borrow some clothes?” Derek growled.

Stiles’ scent changed immediately. He _had_ been grouchy and he _had_ been tired. However the smell was a little less grouchy and a little _more_ horny . “Uh. I… You won’t fit into anything I have. You can borrow clothes from my Dad? He won’t be up for a bit yet.”

Derek’s nostrils sniffed, “Hmmm. You smell _good_.”

Stiles’ cheeks burned up. “You’re in my bed, your nose in my neck and I can feel the outline of your dick against my leg. This is a dream isn’t it?” There was a brief pause.

Derek didn’t say anything for a moment. “No. I’m awake.”

Stiles murmured something under his breath, forgetting that Derek would be able to hear.

“Well if you wanted it, you could just ask. I don’t appreciate blurred lines.”

“Was that a Robin Thicke reference?”

“Is he a porn star?” Derek nibbled on Stiles’ neck a little.

Stiles shook his head a little. “Never mind. Derek would you like to _help out a friend_?”

Derek sniffed in and rubbed his hand a little across Stiles’ chest. He felt himself growing hard. “Hmmm.” He muttered as he pushed his hand underneath Stiles’ t-shirt. “Depends on the need.”

Stiles’ breath became a little more laboured as he felt Derek’s cool hand brush against his nipple and Derek’s tongue run along the back of his neck and nibbled lightly on the side of his ear. He heard a whisper in his ear.

“Jesus. _Uh_. Just fucking touch me already.” Stiles shouted.

Derek raised an eyebrow and moved his body to be sat over Stiles, causing Stiles to roll onto his back in the process. He lay atop of Stiles and kissed his chin. Stiles’ face lowered and he tried to catch a stray kiss but Derek’s head and moved down a little and was sucking on his neck. Stiles closed his eyes as he felt teeth dig into his neck. He opened his eyes when the bite stopped and Derek started to pull his t-shirt up.

Derek moved his body back down and nibbled gently on Stiles’ nipple. Stiles took a heavy breath as he watched Derek’s tongue swirl around gently. Stiles’ wasn’t exactly sure how long Derek’s mouth spent on his nipples but _my god_ was it good. Derek’s hands were holding firmly onto his hips the whole time but his mind wasn’t on that at all.

Derek pulled his head back and looked at Stiles and smirked. Stiles glanced at Derek’s chest and swallowed. “Woah. It’s…” He lifted a hand up and ran his hand up and down the chest a few times. “You make me look like a twig.” His eyes wandered down a little more and he saw Derek’s erection pushed against his leg and the head swollen.

Derek’s thumbs had moved under the waistband of his pyjamas. “No, I make you look horny.” Derek smirked a little and pushed one hand underneath. His mouth returned to Stiles’ neck and his hand jerked him slowly. “You look and smell good enough to eat.” Derek mumbled into Stiles’ neck. He heard Stiles’ breath shift above him. He started off slowly. Derek’s fingers finding the things which made Stile’s unique. A few light bumps on the very base but otherwise very smooth.

Stiles bucked his hips once and Derek let go. Stiles bucked into thin air a few times, “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?”

Derek looked up and smirked. He ran his tongue along his teeth, “I don’t think you’re ready for me to eat you just yet.”

Stiles breath hitched as the hand returned to his cock. He wasn’t sure how to describe it. He usually used lube so Derek’s dry hand wrapped around him felt a little _strange_ but even then it wasn’t necessarily what he’d expected. It didn’t feel like it was especially Derek’s hand on him it was just something warm and -. A breath escaped Stiles as he felt himself near the edge again. He felt Derek’s hand retreat and run his fingers along him gently for a few moments.

Stiles wasn’t exactly sure when it had started but he suddenly became aware of Derek’s body rubbing against him. Stiles was being _dry humped_ by Derek Hale. His brain didn’t quite appreciate the gravitas of the situation as his muscles contracted heavily. He was almost certain he was going to come this time and he let out a loud gasp. Apparently that gave Derek too much of a clue as he felt the hand leave him. He felt Derek’s body move against his a lot faster.

He noticed that Derek’s teeth weren’t exactly biting against his neck anymore and that Derek was just breathing heavily against him. “ _Wait_. I want to see you touch yourself.”

Derek’s head pulled out of Stiles neck and his hand pulled out from in his trousers. Derek knelt in front of Stiles and jerked himself slowly. Stiles reached inside his own pyjamas and pulled on himself. He didn’t have the control that Derek seemed to have though, as within a few seconds he had come inside his pyjamas. He watched intensely as Derek pulled on himself.

Derek’s and Stiles’ eyes were locked. Stiles’ eyes occasional moved to look at Derek’s lips when he moaned a little and down to his cock when he saw Derek’s body tense up a little. The only uniting theme in the whole time was that his eyes weren’t away from Derek’s body once. When Derek was about to come his eyes closed and his hand started to move as fast as Stiles’ had.

“Der, look at me.”

Derek’s eyes opened and he looked at Stiles’ mouth as he lost control of himself and he came across Stiles. Most landed on Stiles’ chest but the first spurt had landed on Stiles’ forehead.

“I don’t know about you Derek. But I really enjoyed that.” Stiles mumbled as he felt Derek’s body land back on top of him. He was about to ask about cleaning up but he felt Derek’s hand wipe the come off his forehead and the come on his chest get squished and shared between their two bodies. Derek pulled the covers back over them, still lying atop Stiles. “I guess we’re not going to get any tissue roll?”

“No.” Derek grumbled. “You smell good.”


	3. Chapter 3

-

It was only two hours later when they woke up. Stiles had to try and push the lump that was Derek off himself before he ran downstairs and saw his Dad sat on the chair reading the newspaper.

“Yo, Dad. Derek is in human form and he needs clothes.”

The Sheriff glanced up and down at his son. “Oh. Of course. I can lend him some. I’ll go grab some for him.

Stiles went through to the kitchen and made a mug of coffee. He was pretty sure Derek drank coffee. He wasn’t entirely sure but Derek seemed like a coffee person, right? His dad came through and passed him a small pile of clothes. They looked pretty old though that was probably for the best. “These are decorating clothes so he’ll look a bit freaky but he won’t need to worry about returning them. Stiles, you might want to throw those pyjamas in the wash today.”

Stiles glanced down to see an unfortunate and ridiculously obvious semen stain. He blushed heavily. “I will do. Thanks for the clothes.” He was upstairs before he died of embarrassment.

-

When he walked into his room with a mug of coffee in one hand and the pile of clothes in another the one thing he hadn’t considered was walking in on Derek being asleep and half-hard on the bed. He put the mug down and threw the clothes on the end of the bed and jumped in to sit next to Derek. It was of course at that moment that Derek woke up and looked at Stiles grumpily.

Stiles nodded gently at his cock, “So, were you having super sexy dreams or something?”

Stiles moved his head in towards Derek’s lips and he felt Derek push his head back. Stiles raised an eyebrow.

“We probably shouldn’t. It will make this whole thing worse afterwards.”

“We’re not going to see each other after this. Do you really think that kissing is some kind of red line that will make the difference and me watching you have a wank isn’t? I don’t mind us doing this. We can be casual until the end of the month.”

“We probably shouldn’t have done that either.” Derek growled and climbed out of the bed pulling on the paint stained t-shirt and jeans. “I made a mistake we can’t do this okay?”

Derek’s nostrils widened a little.

“Fuck. You’re horny again. We’re not doing this now… I’ll try and stay out of your way.” Derek closed his eyes. “I have somewhere to be. I’ll talk to you later.”

Stiles’ stomach flipped as he watched Derek run out of the room and he heard the sound of Derek’s abrupt goodbye to the Sheriff. Stiles’ thoughts raced for a few moments. His first thought was that Derek didn’t like him but he reassured himself that it wasn’t the case. Surely Derek wouldn’t have even given him the choice. He would have told him that because he’d stood up to the alpha he had to be dismissed.

He did consider the fact that Derek was a loner. That maybe Derek was happy to mate with Stiles because otherwise he might never find love anyway and that if Stiles wanted to stay with Derek. After all Derek had made it clear that Stiles didn’t have to have sex with him if he didn’t want. It wasn’t necessary to being someone’s mate.

Stiles didn’t really spend much time considering the possibility (maybe even the obvious) that Derek didn’t mind spending his whole life with Stiles at all. He didn’t consider that Derek would love him so much that sex wouldn’t be something he would need to be with Stiles. He didn’t think that Derek would see sex as something that held emotion and long lasting meaning. He didn’t even wonder if Derek would miss him.

The truth was that when Stiles’ thoughts had passed onto anything that might suggest even slightly that his decision was wrong, he had quickly averted his thoughts to things that would reinforce why not mating with Derek was the right thing to do. Confirmation bias strikes.

 -

Patricia’s eyes widened when Derek appeared at her door. She quickly pulled him into a tight embrace and pulled him into her home.

“I didn’t think you would come you know. I told all the girls about you last week. They were so disappointed when you didn’t show up. We haven’t had a Hale come and see us in years.” Patricia tutted. “I must admit you make up the numbers quite well. There’s normally more of us but there are only eleven of us today.”

Patricia beckoned him through to her living room where there were three tables with four chairs each. The tables were each square and there were only two seats left. Patricia sat him down and went round to the other side. “This is Maureen and Olwyn. Olwyn’s husband was the emissary to the Hale’s before he died, Maureen dated your grandfather in the sixties.”

She glanced behind her, “We knew the Hale’s well, some of the others knew them well enough. Anyway, we can talk about those things later. I’m assuming you came to play bridge though? You were quite interested last time we spoke.”

Derek nodded and listened to the quick introduction of the game.

It was about three hours later that Derek was thoroughly confused by the fact that the game and that this wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he’d agreed to come last time he’d met Patricia. Admittedly the slightly strange old women were among the finer features of the morning but the fact was that they were all old enough to be his grandmother or, at the very least, his mother.

“I didn’t know you were a witch when we met.” Derek mumbled to Patricia when the rest of the players had left and she’d ushered him through to her conservatory.

“Why would you? We’re not young spritely things like you, nobody wants to try and kill us anymore. So tell me wolf, why walk into your natural enemy’s home? Even alone I am more powerful than your whole pack.” Patricia paused and whispered some words that Derek didn’t understand. The result however was clear as two mugs of tea appeared.

“I wanted to speak to you about The Sheriff’s son.”

Patricia froze and turned. “Genim is… showing?”

“He’s had no training and he’s getting old. His power core is weak…” Derek took a sip of the tea.

“We are not the right coven for a warlock. This would have to be temporary.”

“I just need someone to protect him when the pack can’t. He’ll be at college soon. I’ll find him a permanent coven for there.”

Patricia smiled lightly. “We have supported the Hale’s and the Stilinski’s in times past. We will do the same again. Now tell me Derek, what business would an alpha have with a young warlock?”

- 

The next week and a half passed disturbingly quickly. Derek had avoided Stiles like the plague, though that might be considered a little extreme given that Derek had seen Stiles twice. Once to tell him that he’d managed to find him a coven (Stiles complained about it by text when he’d met them because they were all “four times his age”) and once because Stiles had told him to come round (Derek did as he was told then buggered off as quickly as he could before Stiles noticed he was there).

Derek actually saw more of the Sheriff than he did of Stiles. He saw the Sheriff five times. Once to return his clothes (“You didn’t have to, these are only decorating clothes anyway”), once when he was visiting Stiles to tell him about the coven (“I’m glad Pat’s happy to help”), once on the phone (“I heard something interesting about my son getting out of a detention the other day…”) and the other two times were only gentle hellos when they passed in town.

Stiles found that the nine days were relatively entertaining or at least had a lot more going on. On six of the nine days nothing noteworthy happened but on one of the days Stiles was told that Derek had found a new coven and on the other two days Stiles spent his times with the coven. Male witches were a rarity and when Stiles made the mistake of complaining about being called a warlock over a witch he was admonished by three witches he’d never even spoken to.

The second thing that Stiles discovered was that old women have a really strange obsession with the game bridge. He assumed it was because all of their husbands had died but maybe it was because they just wanted to confuse themselves with a deck of cards. When he asked he was told that it wasn’t popular enough for their friends to all be rushing to play on the Sunday morning and it wasn’t unpopular enough that their friends would find it suspicious.

This isn’t to say that Stiles didn’t have reason to be concerned about the coven. They were hundreds of times more powerful than him. Stiles didn’t realise the way that witches had specialities and that covens were built up around concepts of weakness and strengths in different fields of magic. For example one witch demonstrated the strange ability to shrink and enlarge objects at will. The only downside was that in order to shrink something she had to enlarge something else.

Stiles however was taught only basic magic, which meant that if he was lucky he could move an object that was smaller than a teaspoon a few centimetres or he could maybe heat up a glass of water by a degree or two (and regardless of whether that’s Fahrenheit or Celsius we can all agree that’s pathetic). The fact was that these skills were unlikely to ever be particularly useful until he would operate on a much larger scale (but even when the witch enlarged him the abilities were as weak – go figure).

The only thing the witches did that Stiles truly appreciated is tell stories of old foes they had all faced and old spells they’d used. Apparently one of them was a master of the body-swap where the host of bodies could be changed at will. Stiles felt that that sounded like a ridiculous fanfiction trope that would have no real use in a combat situation. Given that she apparently took twenty years to master the spell Stiles couldn’t help but feel that its kinky effects had lost value. Another of the witches had created a spell for mind control, but again… Stiles thought that the spell’s value was in sex not in combat usefulness.

There were a few discussions where Stiles actually led the way. He told them about creatures that he had encountered and battles that he had fought. It was the only time he’d been able to sit there and tell someone about all the things he had done. The witches were all really impressed. Until he’d decided that he might as well ask, “Hey, are unicorns real?”

The Sheriff noted more and more the fact that Stiles no longer spent time with anyone. He bumped into Harris in town during his lunch break one day who’d told him off for sending Officer Hale to get Stiles out of detention. He apologised profusely and had called Derek immediately. He made sure to make it clear that if anyone else had heard this story that he could get into big trouble. He then followed it up by subtly hinting that there was an open position and a schedule could be arranged to avoid the moon. (Derek got the hint).

The fact was that the only people who had truly exciting things happening in their life in my plot were characters that I’ve given no attention to whatsoever. I think this highlights a severe flaw in my plot structure and in my planning. Just be glad I don’t write for Teen Wolf because plot holes could be found really easily… _oh_.

By the end of the period The Sheriff called Derek once again. Telling him that Stiles has been grouchy the past few days and given that Scott was apparently busy that he was hoping that Derek would come over and cheer Stiles up. Derek agreed; he didn’t know if he’d be any help but if Scott wasn’t being helpful he figured that he could at least do his best.

-

Derek arrived at around eight and was greeted by the Sheriff giving him a totally macho hug. Derek decided to ignore the fact that the Sheriff smelt disturbingly similar to Stiles and followed him through to the kitchen focusing on the smell of food that smelt decidedly gorgeous. When Stiles saw him his smile faltered a small amount before returning.

“Hey, you.” Stiles said quickly. “I didn’t know you were coming. When he said he’d invited someone to dinner I expected to meet a girlfriend or something.”

The Sheriff rolled his eyes, “Haven’t I told you enough times that I don’t want a girlfriend?”

“But who’ll make sure you eat when I’m gone?”

“I survived before your mother I think I can survive after you.” The Sheriff looked to Derek and shrugged. “I’m sure Derek would be happy to help.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “Don’t bring me into this. I get enough shit from Stiles already.” He frowned for a moment.

“Yo, Derek. Set the table. Dad, help me with this.” Stiles shoed Derek away quickly and turned to his Dad. “Did you have to invite Derek? I told you that he has stuff to do.”

“What does Derek do when he’s not dealing with fairies and pixies or whatever it is you actually do?”

“He…” Stiles raised an eyebrow and glanced over to Derek sat at the quickly set table, “Broods?”

“Then I’m sure he has time to have dinner with us once in a blue moon.” The Sheriff smirked at his own tragically poor pun. “If he’s in your life then I want him to be in mine.”

Stiles grumbled to himself a little, his father leaving to go and sit at the table with Derek. He didn’t quite catch any of their conversation but he heard a weird amount of laughing. He finished cooking their dinner about ten minutes later and served it faster than you could possibly imagine.

“Thanks.” Derek said when his food arrived. “I don’t eat much proper food.”

“What do you eat?” The Sheriff asked.

“I mostly hunt my food.” Derek shrugged. “I think the rest of the pack eats normally though. My wolf stumbled on some crazy mushrooms once.” He smirked before he glanced to the Sheriff, “Which isn’t at all amusing?”

The Sheriff shook his head a little. “I’m pretty sure wolves aren’t against...” The Sheriff paused realising his sentenced didn’t make sense. “If I see a wolf high, I can hardly arrest it can I?”

Stiles muttered something under his breath and ignored the harsh scowl that he received. The Sheriff battled bravely on though talking about how he’d never yet arrested an animal, though he had fined a few owners of dogs for not cleaning up after them.

The conversation flowed past the awkward drug topic and moved onto the thrilling topic of football. Derek and The Sheriff were way more engaged in the conversation than Stiles who may have spent the whole time looking slightly confused. He _understood_ football but he didn’t ‘understand’ football. He instead spent the time considering whether or not Derek would suit a French accent. He didn’t reach a conclusion.

When Stiles went to get the pudding and returned the conversation had somehow turned to one of how Derek spent his days and whether he had a job.

“Derek, we have a vacancy in the force now that Officer Potts has retired.” The Sheriff mentioned as he took a scoop of chocolate mousse. “I mentioned it the other day and heck, I could sure use a little more notice about when a body was going to possibly turned up mauled and bewitched. We have pretty flexible working hours to avoid any _pagan rituals_ you may wish to partake in every full moon.”

“Jesus Christ Dad. I think we get the point but Derek isn’t looking for a job. Are you Derek?”

Derek closed his mouth taking a moment to consider. “I couldn’t pass the medical exam anyway. They’d notice something was freakily wrong with me.”

“Unless the Sheriff helped in forging the proper documentation or used a contact in the doctor’s office to get something through.” The Sheriff said. “Not that I’m saying the Sheriff would do something technically illegal.”

“It would be convenient.” Derek shrugged. “Money could certainly help me in fixing the Hale house up, I think I’ve managed to make the living room and the bathroom acceptable but there’s only so much that can be done without money.”

Stiles leant back against his chair, he figured that meant that Derek was going to be the new officer. Brilliant.

“It would also get Stiles out of trouble for getting you to bust him out of a detention.” The Sheriff smirked.

“ _Woah_.” Stiles shook his head aggressively. “I was making a joke. Derek’s literal interpretation made him bust me out of detention.”

Somehow this turned into twenty minutes of The Sheriff and Derek laughing at Stiles’ expense. The Sheriff disappeared through to the living room soon after and Stiles and Derek remained at the table.

Derek sighed, “Does your Dad think we’re dating?”

“Maybe.” Stiles bit his lip and leant back in his chair. “I need to tell him.”

“Yes. You do. I won’t take that job if it makes you uncomfortable.” Derek paused. “Your dad told me to come round to try and cheer you up. I guess I shouldn’t have.”

“No, no… I still want to see you. I’m just trying to figure out what to do.” Stiles shook his head, “I’m also spending hours and hours of my life trying to improve my magic. These witches are useless, I’ve not been able to cast any of the spells I did with the other group.”

“The other group wasn’t helping with your core magic strength. Knowing spells that other witches means they can channel their power through you and you can cast the spell. It’s why covens are generally in the size of thirteen because there are thirteen main types of magical spell, though there’s a new type of cyber magic so some covens are now of size fourteen.” Derek stopped speaking when he realised that Stiles was staring at him. “The other coven didn’t want you strong so they taught you spells and they didn’t help you improve your strength. Gain your trust but keep you weak. This coven is helping you gain strength so you can cast the spells you already know.”

“I thought you didn’t know anything about witchcraft?”

“I’m an alpha and you’re pack.” Derek took a deep breath in at the end of the sentence and there was silence for what felt like an awfully long time, “I didn’t know and then I had to learn. It’s what an alpha does for his pack.”

“What else have you learned for me?”

“Lacrosse is one. The cha-cha slide? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter now.”

Stiles laughed for a moment. “I didn’t think you’d remember the cha-cha slide.”

“You’ve spent six months making sure I don’t forget.”

Stiles nodded. “Are you going to show me your moves or is that going to forever be a fantasy?”

Derek shrugged.

-

The next day Stiles planned to tell Dad _exactly_ what was going on between him and Derek. When I say planned to it means that he chickened out, saying that they needed to talk and then he just told him that he’d received responses from a few universities and he wanted to know his opinion. They had already had the conversation but Dad was pretty happy to go over it all again.

The day after that, however, not only did Stiles plan to tell Dad what was going on, he did.

“Yo Dad, I need to talk to you about Derek.”

“If this is about the job then –“

“No, it’s not about that. It’s a funny story actually. I mean it’s basically the witches fault, I’m not exactly sure how it happened but… Why the hell are you looking at me so furious? I’ve not even told you what it is yet.”

“Oh I have a feeling where this is going. It reminds me of a conversation your mother had with your grandfather just after we got married and _we_ were adults.”

“Wait?” Stiles gawped for a moment. “I’m not pregnant!” He laughed for a moment at the fact that his dad thought he might be pregnant and then he laughed at the look of relief on his father’s face, “We had a bit of a mishap that’s all. It’s a bit weird though so hear me out.”

The Sheriff listened surprisingly well, everything went in first time and he didn’t interrupt once despite Stiles’ imprecise and wishy-washy explanations. A few things slotted into place inside the Sheriff’s mind through the course of the story and a few pieces of the puzzle were incredibly misshapen but were just about holding together the Sheriff’s understanding of… the incident. Stiles finished up the story with a simple, “That’s it.”

“Oh.” The Sheriff didn’t say much more than that. “So I guess we’ll need to have a proper wedding at some point in the future? The relatives don’t need to know for a while yet, we can wait until after you graduate if you prefer?”

Stiles shook his head. “No, that’s not what I want. I’m no longer going to be pack. I… I’m going to college soon so it doesn’t matter that much and I’ve got my magic to keep me busy until then. Would you really commit to someone for the rest of your life when you were my age?”

“I did, but I guess things were different in my day.” The Sheriff grabbed his mug of coffee and took a sip. “And _that_ is cold. How long have you been talking?”

Stiles glanced at his phone. “Uh, not that long.”

The Sheriff looked at his watch. “Well you’re meant to be with that witch in fifteen minutes so…”

“It’s weird.” Stiles drummed his fingers against the table. “How normal the whole abnormal thing is becoming. I sometimes wonder what would have happened had Scott never had the whole wolf problem.”

“Don’t ask me. I’m not a seer, but I do know that if you’re late Patricia will not be happy.” The Sheriff shrugged.

“Patricia loves me. She’d _never_ be grumpy!”

“I…” The Sheriff tutted. “There’s still no need to be rude.”

Stiles quickly shrugged it off before grabbing a fleece to protect him from the cool breeze and ran out of the door to go to Patricia’s. Stiles did find it strange that Dad knew her name. Obviously he must have mentioned her name but he really hadn’t thought he had. He wondered if Derek had mentioned the name in front of the Sheriff. He didn’t spend too much time thinking about it as a bird flew dangerously close to his head about three minutes after he left and he started thinking about wildlife, and then about how he missed his Jeep a tiny little bit.

When he arrived at Patricia’s she wasn’t particularly pleased that he arrived about thirty eight seconds late and she made sure to mention that she was doing this for Stiles and not for herself. Stiles’ mind quickly returned to his father urging him to be on time. His mind didn’t really care too much about the details of that but one phrase repeated in his head, “I’m not a seer.” But before he could open his mouth he was quickly ushered to join the meditation.

Stiles quickly got bored of the awfully dull meditative method and his mind drifted. It didn’t drift too far though before one of the ladies glared at him. He was pretty sure that she was pushing a thought into his head. Stiles resisted momentarily but his resistance was weak and he found his mind cleansed of all thought and for the next hour he is almost certain he didn’t have another thought.

When Patricia brought everyone out of the meditation Stiles almost immediately leapt into action and ran straight towards her.

“Patricia, do seers exist?”

“I am a seer actually.” She smiled. “We don’t see the future though. We can just see truth. Spells, states of being – I’m assuming that’s not what you want?”

“I just need to know…” Stiles took a breath in. “Should I mate with Derek or not?”

“Ah. I wondered when they might come up.” She smirked. “I was surprised you hadn’t asked sooner but I can’t give you your answer.”

“How come nobody ever gives straight answers? I can’t believe Derek told you.”

“Derek didn’t tell me. He was under a mind control spell a few weeks ago when we met, there’s only one thing that can cause a spell like that and that’s a werewolf’s mating.” Patricia walked towards the door and gestured for Stiles to leave, “Your magic is bubbling right now, it will settle down in a few hours. Don’t over exert yourself otherwise the meditation will have been wasted.”

Stiles stood outside the door and stared at Patricia for a moment. “My Dad says hi.” He didn’t exactly know where it came from. His magic bubbled a little in glee as the question was asked.

“Tell him that we all wish him the very best.” Patricia smiled before closing the door on his face.

Stiles’ magic was gleeful. He didn’t know how to describe it. It was congratulating him for acting on impulse it was making his feel sensations that were indescribably elated for fulfilling a desire he’d had. It was… interesting. Maybe this is why the witches they meet were so… weird? They’re trying to appease their magic and its crazy whims.

He got home about twenty minutes later, his magic wanted him to go slowly and it rewarded him immensely for the slow walk. Stiles didn’t normally like walking anywhere but his magic loved it. He used the time to think about the _mind control spell_ that Derek was under. He thought that seemed pretty strange.

He pulled out his phone and tapped out a quick text to Scott but by the time Stiles walked into his house he saw Derek in the lounge glancing at his phone. He looked up immediately. “I didn’t realise you wouldn’t be here when I came. How’s the magic going?”

“Uh. It’s alright.” He scratched the back of his neck and walked to the chair. “I… Didn’t expect to see you again I thought the month was up by now. So you’re under a mind control spell?”

“No. We have two more days.” Derek glanced at his phone again. “Why do you think I’m under a mind-control spell?”

Stiles shrugged. “Patricia said that when she met you a few weeks back you were under a mind control spell and that… it’s because of the mating.”

“We’ll talk about this in a moment.” Derek grumbled. “I came because I needed to talk through a few things.” Stiles nodded. “I have found you some packs and covens at all of your potential universities.”

Stiles’ coughed in surprise but before he could make any comment Derek had launched into a long explanation of the process and how he’d managed to get Chris Argent to hand over details of hunters in the key areas as well. He explained how with magic now being refined that he would need contacts so he didn’t lose touch with the supernatural world. He brought out a small folder and handed it to Stiles.

“I ruled out wolves I’ve never heard of, families that aren’t as prestigious as the Hales and families with long existing rivalries against witches.” Derek looked down at his hands. “I have done something similar with covens with the help of Pat and Deaton… I wanted to demonstrate to you that even though you won’t be formally pack, I care about your future greatly and this is how I decided to help. When you call any of these people or visit any of these places, call them and mention my name and you won’t have any trouble.”

Stiles flicked through the folder it had the top five universities from his shortlist with packs and covens listed, their strengths and weaknesses, the threats that he might face in the area. It was a complete supernatural guide to anywhere that he might go to college. He threw himself as far back into the chair as he could.

“Derek, I don’t know what to say.” Stiles stood and moved towards Derek. “I’m going to hug you now if that’s okay.”

Derek nodded and Stiles moved in to hug him. Derek was still sat down so the hug wasn’t exactly convenient in any way shape or form. To be honest the hug was awful, a terrible hug. As Stiles pulled out of the hug his hand moved around and onto Derek’s face and tilted it up a little.

“Just let me… just once.” Stiles closed his eyes and moved in a little and felt Derek’s lips slip against his. The kiss was gentle, calm and nothing that rocked the boat but it was clean, crisp and perfect in every way. Stiles’ magic thrived within him and gave Stiles a feeling of great ecstasy; the magic didn’t let him pull away immediately, the kiss lingering for some seconds. “I… I hate this. This sucks.”

Derek didn’t nod he just sat like a statue.

“I had a mega crush on you for months and months and…” Stiles sat on the sofa next to Derek. “It’s just not fair.” Derek remained silent for a few moments more. “I think what makes it worse is the fact that we’ve made the right decision but it’s really hard to act like that’s the case. I really love you Derek. I just -”

“That’s not fair Stiles.” Derek grumbled.

“What? I was just saying that it’s going to be hard for me and we -”

Derek growled at him and his eyes flashed red. “Stiles. You shouldn’t have told me you love me.”

“But-”

“I would have been happy for you to be my mate. There are two people in this situation.” Derek stood. “You need to be at the pack meeting on Monday. Goodbye, Stiles.”

“Derek, wait!” Stiles followed as Derek walked out of the door before shouting, “Don’t leave. Stay for lunch.”

Derek halted in his tracks and turned around. “You find out that you can control my mind and within an hour you force me to let you kiss me and now you wish to make me stay with you?”

Derek grabbed Stiles by the shoulders and dragged him into the house.

“Are you going to make me fuck you?” Derek clasped his hand over Sitles’ mouth. “Are you going to make me suck your cock? Make me pretend that I want nothing more in the world?”

Stiles tried to push against Derek but he was too strong for him. He felt Derek’s body pull away from him.

“Tell me to leave.” Derek growled

“You can go.”

-

Stiles hadn’t expected to see anyone the next day. He actively avoided it in fact, turning his phone off and leaving it by the bedside all day. It was a slow day in regard to his magic, as it didn’t really have any desires today. The buzz of the meditation had worn off it seemed and Stiles didn’t have the concentration to manage to clear his mind of thoughts.

He had a small breakfast and tried to clear his mind a little. He went on a short walk, the wind was unusually strong cool for this time of year but he didn’t really mind that much. He closed his mind off completely from the world around him for what felt like hours. He was just glad that it was school tomorrow. At the very least he’d have something to do but the day passed glacially. He saw his dad for a few minutes before he got called out but in general not enough happened to make the day anything more than an internal mancave of emotion.

-

Stiles pretty much stayed silent all day. He went to his lessons, answered questions when they were directed at him and made himself disappear into the library at lunch. He didn’t want to talk. In a way he wished he’d let Derek attack the witches. Stiles made sure to remind himself that no good deed goes unpunished and made due note that if he ever wants to argue with an alpha make sure he loses the argument.

Stiles couldn’t imagine a world without Derek in. He tried all day but he just couldn’t. Maybe it was like when you try not to think about your breathing and suddenly you can’t avoid it. If you weren’t trying then maybe you could return to your normal cycle but when concentrating you either breath too much too deeply or too little and wonder how you ever survive a day. Stiles felt a little bit like that, he tried to imagine a life as far removed from the one he led but all roads led to either suffocating loneliness or to Derek.

Stiles knew that he would get past it. People break up and try and find the newer, better model (but newer and better doctors or lawyers are acceptable alternatives) almost their fear of being alone and that fear that they’ve missed out on _true love_ drives them way past the reality that love cannot always sustain a relationship forever. Stiles’ thoughts returned again to Derek. He wondered whether it would be easier to move on if someone had died.

He didn’t think so. His Dad was still in love with his mother, he assumed that maybe he always would be. His Dad didn’t get to break up and have the relationship end badly. He didn’t feel the need to find someone else maybe, but that didn’t mean that it was easier. Perhaps it would even make it worse. Knowing that you were with someone and that was great…

Stiles considered all of the couples he knew that were adults. There weren’t many when he thought about it but those he knew from around town all met each other at school. Though, that maybe isn’t surprising in Beacon Hills. He considered the women of the coven. Most had husbands and those that didn’t never married. Perhaps it was a generational thing, divorce wasn’t an option for many people.

He wondered whether he was making the right choice. That was the main thing he thought about. He considered the fact that if he wasn’t certain about being with Derek then it probably was… but he still wanted to be with him. He wanted to grab Derek’s hand when he slept. He wanted to wake up to the sound of Derek’s voice. He wanted to fuck him too but it wasn’t _just_ about that.

He thought about the whole thing from Derek’s perspective. He thought about how Derek was… he realised that he didn’t actually know Derek’s age. Twenty seemed too young. He’d left and came back… but he didn’t look thirty. He wondered if werewolves aged as everyone else did or whether their healing kept them looking young and spritely for longer. Maybe Derek would regret it when they were older. When Derek looked sexy still and Stiles was pushing forty or fifty or however old he was going to be.

He thought about how Derek was pack oriented and how he’d want children that… he wouldn’t be able to provide naturally (though maybe magic could help). He contemplated Derek’s obligation to the pack and how once he moved to university Derek wouldn’t be able to act as an alpha should to a member of the pack. Their relationship would change and even if they managed to work it until then…

Stiles nodded to himself as the bell rang for the end of the day. He jumped out of his skin when it did. He’d spent the whole day contemplating the thing he’d hoped school would take his mind off. He felt nauseated as he remembered he would probably never see Derek again after today.

-

Scott had picked up Stiles and brought him to the pack. Derek looked around quickly performing a quick headcount and then looked at Stiles. Stiles smelt sad.

“What do I have to do?” Stiles almost whispered as he looked at Derek.

“I, the alpha of this pack, dismiss Stiles Stilinski. The reason for this dismissal is due to the end of our mating period and the decision not to become mates for life. As such when Stiles leaves he will no longer be pack to us.”

Derek’s eyes pierced into Stiles’. Stiles looked away immediately.

Derek paused and looked around at the pack. “You can leave now.”

Stiles walked up to Derek and reached around him. The hug was long but quiet. Derek’s arms were trapped by Stiles’ and his head rested against Derek’s chest for a long moment. Derek didn’t resist as he took in a long sniff. Derek’s nostrils inflamed a little at the scent. Stiles pulled out of the hug after a while. “I’m sorry Derek.”

“So am I.” Derek muttered as Stiles walked out of the door.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it. For about two-thirds of the story I was writing it for them to be together in the end. But the more and more I thought about it... The less I felt it was right.
> 
> I am currently writing a sequel where there will be some BAMF!Stiles to make everything alright.


End file.
